SOUTH KOREA—St. Maarten 9th Dan degree Black Belt Taekwondo Grand Master Theo Liu was
honoured at the 2025 Global Traditional Taekwondo Federation (GTTF) Summit in South Korea.
A total of 400 participants representing 195 countries attended the summit.
The theme for the summit was “Reviving Tradition, Inspiring Humanity”
The program held at the professional Taekwondo center in the city Muju, South Korea the birth place of Taekwondo.
Included in the program were Taekwondo courses focusing on preserving the forgotten values of Traditional Taekwondo.
“The mental attitude of the practitioner takes precedence over the scoring system seen in competiton,” explained Liu. “Self-defense, breaking, and Taekwondo etiquette are also important virtues of training.”
Between class, a traditional Korean ceremony honoured 28 professionals who earned their 9th
Dan Black belt, including St.Maarten’s own Grand Master Theo Liu.
The 9th Dan Black Belt degree is the highest in Taekwondo.
You receive the flowers in life for your exceptional Taekwondo journey were the special words of the organization.
Grand Master Liu received also during the awards banquet from the GTTF president Jun Lee a special recognition award for his exceptional and unique contribution to Taekwondo in general and especially to the organization of the GTTF.
Grandmaster Liu continued, “The form of Taekwondo taught may be different. The rules of sparring may also be different. However, what will not change is the spirit of Taekwondo that has
been passed down from generation to generation. The spirit (the Do) of Taekwondo is to train the body and mind the path of discipline, ethics and personal growth, is increasingly neglected and
undervalued in this so called modern world.”
The grandmaster concluded, “parents are also responsible for preserving the discipline of Taekwondo and guiding their children to the right path. Regretfully nowadays parents and children
are less physically active spending a lot of time using modern IT devices.”
